Camas, Washougal students get free dictionaries from Rotary Club

View full sizeLacamas Elementary School third-graders Emma Coates and Owen Jacobs-Brown look up words in their new dictionaries.
Anne Laufe/Special to The Oregonian

In the age of the Internet and electronic media, it's nice to know that kids still appreciate a good book.

The excitement was evident on the faces of Lacamas Elementary School's third-graders as each stood in line to receive a dictionary last week. About 80 kids walked back to their classrooms flipping through their new reference books, a gift from the Camas-Washougal Rotary Club.

This is the eighth year in a row that the local Rotary Club has given dictionaries to students in the Camas and Washougal school districts.

"The kids just love it," Lacamas principal Jan Strohmaier said. "They think it's kind of neat that somebody gives them something and cares about their education."

In addition to definitions and keys to pronunciation, the dictionaries include maps, brief biographies of all U.S. presidents, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

The giveaway is part of the Rotarians' national Gift of Words project, which promotes literacy and establishes connections between Rotarians and their communities.

Local Rotary Clubs, Columbia Vista Corp., IQ Credit Union and U.S. Bank sponsor the Clark County project. This year, Rotarians raised more than $9,000 to purchase dictionaries for 5,000 third-grade students in 58 Clark County schools.

Anne Winters, public relations chair of the Camas-Washougal Rotary Club, said that the Rotarians target third grade because it is a key year for language development and vocabulary improvement.

"Having a dictionary of their own allows students to have a resource right at their fingertips, one that can be easily stored in a backpack or desk and doesn't require Internet access," Winters said.

The Camas-Washougal Rotary Club also helps with the annual countywide Walk and Knock food drive, volunteers with Meals on Wheels, awards scholarships to high school students and in September provides backpacks filled with school supplies to families in need.

Winters said the average age of local Rotarians is around 50.

"It's generally people who are a little older and established in their careers. We're always targeting the 30- and 40-year-olds, but they're so busy with jobs and family," she said.

The Camas-Washougal Club reaches out to high school students through Interact, Rotary International's service club for young people ages 12 to 18. Students in Camas and Washougal High Schools' Interact clubs help with food drives, organize a father/daughter dance and participate in other service projects throughout the year.

Interact students assisted with the dictionary project by putting book plates and bookmarks in the 700 dictionaries that the local Rotarians distributed. Half a dozen of the Interact students were also on hand at Lacamas Elementary School to help give out the books, including this year's Interact president, Camas High School senior Perry Truong.

He beamed down at the youngsters gathered in the library and said, "I still remember getting my dictionary in third grade."